The Essence of Strategic Leadership: Managing Human and Social Capital

A new type of strategic leadership is required to help firms successfully navigate the dynamic and uncertain environment in which they compete today. The strategic leadership needed in 21st century firms is involved with building company resources and capabilities with an emphasis on intangible human capital and social capital. Human capital is the firm's repository of valuable knowledge and skills; social capital provides access to critical resources. Both are significant contributors to achievement of a competitive advantage. Leaders must effectively manage these important resources for the firm. Management of these resources involves evaluating current resource stocks and making changes such as adding (e.g., developing or acquiring externally) and deleting (e.g., layoffs) human resources and external relationships. To create value, the resources must be configured to develop capabilities that can be leveraged in ways to create competitive advantages. The dimension of strategic leadership we describe here is called effectuation. This new type of approach to leadership has important implications for management scholars and practitioners.

[1]  David G. Sirmon,et al.  Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms , 2003 .

[2]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS: BUILDING TRUST AND SOCIAL CAPITAL , 2003 .

[3]  C. P. Goodman,et al.  The Tacit Dimension , 2003 .

[4]  Jim Collins,et al.  Good to Great - (Why Some Companies Make the Leap and others Don't) , 2009 .

[5]  M. Hitt,et al.  Alliance Management as a Source of Competitive Advantage , 2002 .

[6]  Sharon F. Matusik.  An empirical investigation of firm public and private knowledge , 2002 .

[7]  Kent D. Miller.  Competitive strategies of religious organizations , 2002 .

[8]  B. Chakravarthy,et al.  The persistence of knowledge‐based advantage: an empirical test for product performance and technological knowledge , 2002 .

[9]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[10]  Edgar H Schein,et al.  The anxiety of learning. Interview by Diane L. Coutu. , 2002, Harvard business review.

[11]  Melvin Sorcher,et al.  Are you picking the right leaders? , 2002, Harvard business review.

[12]  P. Drucker.  They're not employees, they're people. , 2002, Harvard business review.

[13]  Deborah G. Ancona,et al.  The Comparative Advantage of X-Teams , 2002 .

[14]  R. Cross,et al.  Six Myths About Informal Networks -- and How to Overcome Them , 2002 .

[15]  P. Adler,et al.  Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept , 2002 .

[16]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  Resource complementarity in business combinations: Extending the logic to organizational alliances , 2001 .

[17]  Daniel J. McCarthy,et al.  Navigating the hostile maze: A framework for Russian entrepreneurship , 2001 .

[18]  R. Ireland,et al.  Improving firm performance through entrepreneurial actions: Acordia's corporate entrepreneurship strategy , 2001 .

[19]  J. Badaracco.  We don't need another hero. , 2001, Harvard business review.

[20]  M. Hitt,et al.  Strategic entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial strategies for wealth creation , 2001 .

[21]  L. Prusak,et al.  How to invest in social capital. , 2001, Harvard business review.

[22]  Richard Makadok.  Toward a synthesis of the resource‐based and dynamic‐capability views of rent creation , 2001 .

[23]  Julie M. Hite,et al.  The evolution of firm networks: from emergence to early growth of the firm , 2001 .

[24]  R. Duane Ireland,et al.  Integrating entrepreneurship and strategic management actions to create firm wealth , 2001 .

[25]  M. Hitt,et al.  Direct and Moderating Effects of Human Capital on Strategy and Performance in Professional Service Firms: A Resource-Based Perspective , 2001 .

[26]  Larry Yu.  Intangible Investments, Tangible Results , 2001 .

[27]  Eric Lesser,et al.  Preserving Knowledge in an Uncertain World , 2001 .

[28]  Richard L. Priem,et al.  Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? , 2001 .

[29]  W. Mitchell,et al.  Path-dependent and path-breaking change: reconfiguring business resources following acquisitions in the U.S. medical sector, 1978–1995 , 2000 .

[30]  G. Hamel.  Leading the Revolution , 2000 .

[31]  M. Woolcock,et al.  Social capital: implications for development theory, research, and policy , 2000 .

[32]  M. Hitt,et al.  Partner Selection in Emerging and Developed Market Contexts: Resource-Based and Organizational Learning Perspectives , 2000 .

[33]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Enabling Knowledge Creation , 2000 .

[34]  R. Gulati,et al.  STRATEGIC NETWORKS , 2000 .

[35]  M. Hitt,et al.  Achieving and maintaining strategic competitiveness in the 21st century: The role of strategic leadership , 1999 .

[36]  David P. Lepak,et al.  The Human Resource Architecture: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Allocation and Development , 1999 .

[37]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  Dynamic strategic resources : development, diffusion and integration , 1999 .

[38]  Barbara W. Keats,et al.  Navigating in the new competitive landscape: Building strategic flexibility and competitive advantage in the 21st century , 1998 .

[39]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[40]  R. Gulati,et al.  The dynamics of learning alliances: competition, cooperation, and relative scope , 1998 .

[41]  Warren G. Bennis,et al.  Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration , 1997 .

[42]  Theresa M. Welbourne,et al.  Predicting the Performance of Initial Public Offerings: Should Human Resource Management be in the Equation? , 1996 .

[43]  David Lei,et al.  Dynamic Core Competences through Meta-Learning and Strategic Context , 1996 .

[44]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[45]  David J. Miller,et al.  The Resource-Based View of the Firm in Two Environments: The Hollywood Film Studios From 1936 to 1965 , 1996 .

[46]  T. Welbourne,et al.  Predicting Performance of Initial Public Offering Firms: Should HRM Be in the Equation? , 1995 .

[47]  W. P. Barnett,et al.  An Evolutionary Model of Organizational Performance , 1994 .

[48]  J. Barney,et al.  Trustworthiness as a Source of Competitive Advantage , 1994 .

[49]  Robert E. Hoskisson,et al.  Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization , 1994 .

[50]  P. Ring,et al.  Developmental Processes of Cooperative Interorganizational Relationships , 1994 .

[51]  Michael A. Hitt,et al.  Downscoping: How to Tame the Diversified Firm , 1994 .

[52]  C. R. Greer,et al.  Organizational and Financial Correlates of a “Contrarian” Human Resource Investment Strategy , 1992 .

[53]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product development: Strategic Management Journal, 13, 111–125 (Summer 1992) , 1992 .

[54]  Renée Mauborgne,et al.  Implementing global strategies: The role of procedural justice , 1991 .

[55]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[56]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[57]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[58]  T. Roehl,et al.  Mobilizing invisible assets , 1987 .

[59]  J. Barney.  Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy , 1986 .

[60]  J. Kotter.  The General Managers , 1982 .

[61]  D. Mileti,et al.  Technology and the Study of Organizations: An Overview and Appraisal , 1977 .